| Toei Company, Ltd. | |
| Native Name: | 東映株式会社 |
| Native Name Lang: | ja |
| Romanized Name: | Tōei Kabushiki-gaisha |
| Logo Alt: | A hollow triangle, with the kanji characters for Toei placed inside it. |
| Former Name: |
|
| Predecessor: | Toyoko Eiga Company Ōizumi Films |
| Type: | Public KK |
| Foundation: | (as Tōkyō Eiga) |
| Founder: | Keita Goto |
| Location City: | Chūō, Tokyo |
| Location Country: | Japan |
| Location: | 2-17 Ginza 3-chome |
| Area Served: | Worldwide, with a focus in Japan |
| Key People: | Noriyuki Tada Fumio Yoshimura |
| Industry: | Film and television Video games |
| Products: | Motion pictures, publicity materials |
| Services: | Film and TV distribution and marketing |
| Revenue: | ¥ 66,300,000,000 |
| Revenue Year: | As of March 2006 |
| Num Employees: | 343 |
| Num Employees Year: | As of March 1, 2019 |
| Subsid: |
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| Footnotes: | [1] [2] |
is a Japanese entertainment company. Headquartered in Ginza, Chūō, Tokyo, it is involved in film and television production, distribution, video game development, publishing, and ownership of 34 movie theaters. Toei also owns and operates studios in Tokyo and Kyoto and holds shares in several television companies. The company is renowned for its production of anime and live-action dramas known as tokusatsu, which incorporate special visual effects. It is also known for producing period dramas. Toei is the majority shareholder of Toei Animation and is recognized for its franchises such as Kamen Rider and Super Sentai.
Toei is one of the four members of the Motion Picture Producers Association of Japan (MPPAJ 日本映画製作者連盟), and is therefore one of Japan's Big Four film studios, alongside Kadokawa Daiei Studio, Shochiku and Toho.
Toei's predecessor, the, was incorporated in 1938. It was founded by Keita Goto, CEO of, the direct predecessor to the Tokyu Corporation. It had erected its facilities immediately east of the Tōkyū Tōyoko Line; they managed the prewar Tōkyū Shibuya Yokohama studio system. From 1945 through the Toei merger, Tokyo-Yokohama Films leased from the Daiei Motion Picture Company a second studio in Kyoto.
On October 1, 1950, the Tokyo Film Distribution Company was incorporated as a subsidiary of Toyoko Eiga; in 1951 the company purchased Ōizumi Films. The current iteration of Toei was established on April 1, 1951. Through the merger, they gained the combined talents and experience of actors Chiezō Kataoka, Utaemon Ichikawa, Ryunosuke Tsukigata, Ryūtarō Ōtomo, Kinnosuke Nakamura, Chiyonosuke Azuma, Shirunosuke Toshin, Hashizo Okawa, and Satomi Oka.
In 1955, they purchased the Kyoto studio from Daiei.[3] In 1956, Toei established an animation division, Toei Animation Company, Limited at the former Tokyo-Ōizumi animation studio, purchasing the assets of, founded in 1948. Toei was a pioneer in the use of "Henshin"/"character transformation" in live-action martial-arts dramas, a technique developed for the Kamen Rider, Metal Hero and Super Sentai series; the genre currently continues with Kamen Rider and Super Sentai.
In September 1964, Toei leaves the Tokyu Corporation.[3]
In 1972, Toei started to distribute foreign films in Japan.[3]
In 1975, they opened a theme park at Kyoto Studio, the Toei Kyoto Studio Park.[3]
Toei started producing films in 1953. This list compiles the films by their original release date, their common English titles and Japanese titles. The Japanese titles are not necessarily direct translations of their English counterparts.
For feature films, Toei established itself as a producer of B-movies, that were made to fit into double bills and triple bills. It is predominantly known in the west for its series of action films and television series.
| Release date | English film title | Original title | Notes | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Weak-kneed from Fear of Ghost-Cat | Kaibyo koshinuke daisodo | |||
| Kaibyo Ranbu[4] | ||||
| Kaidan Chidoriga-fuchi | ||||
| Ghost Story of Broken Dishes at Bancho Mansion | Kaidan Bancho sara yashiki | |||
| Ghost-Cat of Karakuri Tenjo | Kaibyo Karakuri Tenjo | |||
| Planet Prince | Yusei oji | Chapter 1 | ||
| Planet Prince - The Terrifying Spaceship | Yūsei Ōji - Kyōfu no Uchūsen | Chapter 2 (both chapters edited into a 1962 feature version called Prince of Space) | ||
| Ghost from the Pond | Kaidan hitotsu-me Jizo | |||
| The Final War | Daisanji sekai taisen - yonju-ichi jikan no kyofu | A New Toei Co, Ltd. Production; released in U.S. in 1962 | ||
| Alakazam the Great | Saiyu-ki | A Toei Animation Co, Ltd. Production | ||
| Invasion of the Neptune Men | Uchu kaizoku-sen | Starred Sonny Chiba as Space Chief | ||
| Ghost of Oiwa | Kaidan Oiwa no Borei | |||
| Ghost Music of Shamisen | Kaidan shamisen-bori | |||
| Jakoman and Tetsu | Jakoman to Tetsu | |||
| House of Terrors | Kaidan semushi otoko (Ghost of the Hunchback[5]) | |||
| Ghost of the One-Eyed Man | Kaidan katame no otoko | |||
| Kai tatsu daikessen | ||||
| Kaitei Daisensō | U.S./ Japanese co-production | |||
| Yongary, Monster from the Deep | Dai koesu Yongkari | South Korean/Japanese co-production | ||
| Gamma sango uchu dai sakusen | U.S./ Japanese co-production | |||
| Fear of the Snake Woman | Kaidan hebionna | |||
| Killer's Mission | Shokin kasegi | |||
| Horrors of Malformed Men | Kyofu kikei ningen | |||
| Voyage Into Space | Giant Robo (Johnny Sokko and his Flying Robot)[6] | Episodes of the Japanese TV series re-edited into a TV movie for U.S. release | ||
| Yakuza deka | ||||
| Kamikaze Cop, Marihuana Syndicate | Yakuza deka, Marihuana mitsubai soshiki | |||
| Venus Flytrap (film) | Revenge of Dr. X (U.S. video title) | Based on a 1950s unproduced screenplay by Ed Wood (uncredited) | ||
| [7] | ||||
| [8] | ||||
| [9] | ||||
| Gekitotsu Satsujinken | starred Sonny Chiba; spawned 2 sequels, Return of the Street Fighter and Street Fighter's Last Revenge | |||
| Legend of Dinosaurs & Monster Birds | Kyoryu-kaicho no densetsu | |||
| Message from Space | Uchu kara no messeji | Starred Sonny Chiba and Vic Morrow | ||
| Jigoku | ||||
| Time Slip (a.k.a. G.I. Samurai[10]) | Sengoku jieitai | starred Sonny Chiba | ||
| The Pale Head | Shiroi te | A Kansai Telecasting Corp/Toei-Tokyo Production | ||
| 2001 | The Firefly | Hotaru | Toei 50th Anniversary film | |
| 2012 | A Chorus of Angels | Kita no Canaria tachi | Toei 60th Anniversary films | |
| 2012 | Toei 60th Anniversary films | |||
| Space Pirate Captain Harlock | a.k.a. | Toei Animation Production | [11] | |
| 125 Years Memory | Kainan 1890 | Co-produced by Toei, Creators' Union, Böcek Yapım | [12] | |
| First Love | Hatsukoi | Distributor, produced by OLM | [13] [14] | |
| The Goldfish | Umibe no Kingyō | |||
| 2023 | The Legend and Butterfly | Toei 70th Anniversary film | [15] | |
| 2023 | Shin Kamen Rider | Reboot of the original 1971 series by Hideaki Anno | ||
See main article: Toei Animation.
| Year | Title | |
|---|---|---|
| 1971–present | Kamen Rider franchise | |
| 1975–present | Super Sentai franchise | |
| 1982–present | Metal Hero franchise | |
| 1993–present | Power Rangers franchise | |
| 1994–1996 | VR Troopers | |
| 1995–1996 | Masked Rider | |
| 1996–1998 | Big Bad Beetleborgs (later Beetleborgs Metallix) | |
| 2008–2009 | ||
| 2023 |
See also: Izumi Todo.
is a collective pseudonym used by Toei Company television producers, and formerly Toei Animation producers, when contributing to their various anime and tokusatsu series; similar to Bandai Namco Filmworks' Hajime Yatate. The use of the pen name began with The Kagestar and has been used throughout the Super Sentai (in the adapted Power Rangers series starting with Ninja Storm, the credits list Saburo Hatte. Before this, the credits listed "Original Concepts by Saburo Yatsude") and Metal Hero Series as well as for Spider-Man, Choukou Senshi Changéríon, Video Warrior Laserion, Chōdenji Robo Combattler V, Chōdenji Machine Voltes V, Tōshō Daimos, Daltanius, Space Emperor God Sigma, Beast King GoLion and Kikou Kantai Dairugger XV. The name is also used as a contributor to the soundtracks for the series.
Toei Animation stopped using Saburo Yatsude in 1999, and they began to use Izumi Todo instead. The first anime that was created by Izumi Todo was Ojamajo Doremi.
In the Unofficial Sentai Akibaranger series, Saburo Hatte is an actual person who is godlike within the fictional reality that the show takes place in. In fact, his hand appears at the end of the first half of the series to cover the camera lens and end the show, later having the second half be made under Malseena's influence while in the hospital in the real world.
In the Doubutsu Sentai Zyuohger spinoff, Super Animal Wars third episode, he is portrayed by Jun Hikasa.
On April 3, 2016, an unknown Toei staff member going by Saburo Yatsude was interviewed while wearing a "Giraffe Zyuman" mask in reference to Zyuohger.[16]